Random ramblings

Tuesday March 15, 2005

Solaris netinstall with ISC dhcpd

Notes on configuring ISC dhcpd 3.0 to provide the requisite information to allow Solaris to be net-installed. Culled mostly from a post to a mailling list somewhere (I dont have a reference), along with reading of S10 install docs and dhcpd man pages.

Define the various DHCP options which can be recognised by the Solaris x86 nbp / SPARC PROM and early boot, somewhere near the top of dhcpd.conf, in global scope:

############## Solaris JumpStart Vendor Options #########################
#
option space SUNW;

# SrootOpt, NFS mount options for the client's root file system
option SUNW.root-mount-options code 1 = text;                       #optional

# SrootIP4, IP address of root server
option SUNW.root-server-ip-address code 2 = ip-address;             #required

# SrootNM, Host name of root server
option SUNW.root-server-hostname code 3 = text;                     #required

# SrootPTH, Path to the client's root directory on the root server
option SUNW.root-path-name code 4 = text;                           #required

# SswapIP4, IP address of swap server 
option SUNW.swap-server-ip-address code 5 = ip-address;             #unused

# SswapPTH, Path to the client's swap file on the swap server
option SUNW.swap-file-path code 6 = text;                           #unused

# SbootFIL, Path to the client's boot file, optional
option SUNW.boot-file-path code 7 = text;                           #optional

# Stz, Time zone for client 
option SUNW.posix-timezone-string code 8 = text;                    #unused

# SbootRS, NFS read size used by standalone boot program when
#          loading the kernel 
option SUNW.boot-read-size code 9 = unsigned integer 16;            #optional

# SinstIP4, IP address of JumpStart install server
option SUNW.install-server-ip-address code 10 = ip-address;         #required

# SinstNM, Host name of install server
option SUNW.install-server-hostname code 11 = text;                 #required

# SinstPTH, Path to installation image on install server
option SUNW.install-path code 12 = text;                            #required

# SsysidCF, Path to sysidcfg file, in the format server:/path
option SUNW.sysid-config-file-server code 13 = text;                #optional

# SjumpsCF, Path to JumpStart configuration file in the format server:/path
option SUNW.jumpstart-config code 14 = text;                        #optional

# Sterm, Terminal type  
option SUNW.terminal-name code 15 = text;                           #unused

# SbootURI, Path to the standalone boot file or path to the WAN boot file.
#           standalone: tftp://inetboot.sun4u
#           wan boot:   http://host.domain/path-to-file
option SUNW.standalone-boot-uri code 16 = text;                     #optional

# SHTTPproxy, IP address and port number of the proxy server for 
#             WAN boot, :
option SUNW.standalone-boot-http-proxy code 17 = text;              #optional
#
#######################################################################


## Class to match the Sun nbp
# Other vendor-classes included SUNW.Ultra-1, SUNW.Ultra-30. Consult Sun documentation.
class "SUNW.i86pc" {
  match if option vendor-class-identifier = "SUNW.i86pc";
  vendor-option-space SUNW;
  #option SUNW.jumpstart-config "nfs-server:/exports/path/to/solaris/jumpstarts";
  option SUNW.install-server-hostname "nfs-server";
  option SUNW.install-server-ip-address ;
  option SUNW.install-path "/exports/path/to/solaris";
  option SUNW.root-server-hostname "nfs-server";
  option SUNW.root-server-ip-address ;
  option SUNW.root-path-name "/exports/path/to/solaris/Tools/Boot";
  #option SUNW.root-mount-options "rsize=8192,wsize=8192,noxattr";
  option SUNW.boot-file-path "/home/tftp/SUNW.i86pc";
  #option SUNW.standalone-boot-uri "tftp://home/tftp/SUNW.i86pc";
  #option SUNW.sysid-config-file-server "hibernia:/exports/s10x/s10_70/Solaris_10/Misc/sheen.sysidcfg";
  #filename "/home/tftp/nbp.x86";
}

## 

That should be it. All that is required to have the desired i86 hosts (by MAC, by PXE boot class identifier - whatever) be told to boot the Sun 'nbp' network boot utility from a tftp server with the 'filename' directive ('next-server' is required if tftp server is not on same host as the DHCP server). Sparc hosts should already have network-boot built-in, and do not need to be initially boot an nbp (AFAIK).